Tag : novella

Hard Time is the third novella of the Science Fiction Sam Cane series by T.Q. Chant.

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On the bright side, Sam’s got clear of One-Eight-Seven and the Saved. The downside is that’s she’s in a legal jam with the Corp (turns out that the documents she used to get the job were forged – who knew?). It doesn’t help that she’s still not got her mind right after being taken to the Bright Place. She’s got a hard choice – take her chances with the justice system, or ‘volunteer’ for the Pioneer Division, the hard-luck teams who have the hard job of opening up a new world for colonisation. It’s not just a matter of professional pride – a record and a stint in the slam is the last thing she needs – so she takes the deal. Chances are there won’t even be a deployment during her stint.

Luck’s not on her side, though, and she’s sent to a barren planet in a strategic location to help prepare it for settlement. Caught between a colony director with a hidden agenda and dark secrets hidden beneath the frozen surface, Sam’s starting to suspect that she’s been dogged by more than just bad luck. Breaking one of her rules, she’s starting to take this personally. At least this time she has old friends and new allies lining up alongside her as she struggles to survive and get some answers.

A Word from the Author

In many ways, this series is exactly as it appears – tense, fast-paced, hard-hitting science fiction stories that follow Sam Cane, a woman with a shady past trying to go straight, but getting caught up with dangerous events on the fringes of human settlement.

Through these novellas, though, I wanted to look at how much better we could be if we could do away with so many dangerous, negative things that still plague us. Things like everyday sexism, racism, homophobia, general intolerance and religious fundamentalism. Rather than the easy option of exploring these themes through dystopia, I chose to write about a world in which they have become a thing of the past. Not a perfect world, but I think a better one. One that’s being challenged by throwbacks to humanity’s darker past. The series started life as something a bit more military-SF, with a fairly typical square jawed hero. I found the setting really popped and the character came to life when I re-wrote it as a woman on the run from her own past. Not a hero, but not a villain either – someone in between who just wants to be left alone to get on with her life.

The planet on which she was marooned didn’t kill Sam, but she’s not safe yet. Caught up in a dangerous web of deceit and corporate-double cross, she’s condemned to serve out Hard Time on an icy world being opened for colonisation. One that has more than natural dangers hidden under its frozen surface.

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In too deep with the wrong people, she’s bailed out of the nearest exit and gone corporate. Leaving a life of petty crime on Earth she’s heading for the furthest flung of humanity’s scattered worlds, looking for a place to hide. But sometimes, what you’re running from isn’t the thing that will kill you.

Out on the fringe, Sam finds that things can get a little strange, and a lot dangerous…

A Word from the Author

In many ways, this series is exactly as it appears – tense, fast-paced, hard-hitting science fiction stories that follow Sam Cane, a woman with a shady past trying to go straight, but getting caught up with dangerous events on the fringes of human settlement.

Through these novellas, though, I wanted to look at how much better we could be if we could do away with so many dangerous, negative things that still plague us. Things like everyday sexism, racism, homophobia, general intolerance and religious fundamentalism. Rather than the easy option of exploring these themes through dystopia, I chose to write about a world in which they have become a thing of the past. Not a perfect world, but I think a better one. One that’s being challenged by throwbacks to humanity’s darker past. The series started life as something a bit more military-SF, with a fairly typical square jawed hero. I found the setting really popped and the character came to life when I re-wrote it as a woman on the run from her own past. Not a hero, but not a villain either – someone in between who just wants to be left alone to get on with her life.

Hard Setdown finds Sam Cane landed on a bleak, hot planet and abandoned to her fate when it becomes apparent that the colonists she was supposed to join have disappeared. Follow her struggle to survive, find out what happened to the colonists, and try to get herself off the planet before it kills her.
(T.Q. Chant, May 2017)

Other Books in the Same Series

Sam Cane Series

Book 2 – Hard Lessons

Book 3 – Hard Time

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The Pitch Fork Rebellion (The Du Lac Chronicles) – a Historical fantasy/Young Adult Novella by Mary Anne Yarde. This novella takes places between the 1st and 2nd book of the series.

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From the author who brought us The Du Lac Chronicles…

When the devil wanted to destroy the world he would do so with fire. Alden du Lac knew this for a fact, because the devil had come to Cerniw.

Alden may have driven the man who tortured him from his lands, but he can do nothing to drive him from his dreams.

Alden has become bitter, angry and unrecognizable to those who love him. The only person whom could possible bring him back from the brink is his younger brother Merton. But even Merton is at a loss as to what to do.

As Alden seemingly wars with himself, there is a new threat to the kingdom. A threat that nobody foresaw, or could have possibly predicted…

The adventure continues in this beautiful novella.

The Pitchfork Rebellion has a recommend reading age of 16+

A Word from the Author

My novella, The Pitchfork Rebellion, is set in the year 496 AD in Cerniw (Cornwall) and is part of a series called The Du Lac Chronicles. The Du Lac Chronicles is an Arthurian, historical fantasy series, which has been compared by reviewers to George R. R. Martin’s, Game Of Thrones.

Why did I choose Cornwall as my setting? Cornwall has a long association with Arthurian folklore. It was the kingdom of King Mark — the cuckolded king in the legend of Tristan and Iseult, and thanks to the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Tintagel Castle, in Cornwall, became the birthplace of King Arthur.

Alden du Lac, son of Lancelot, is King of Cerniw in the novel, The Pitchfork Rebellion, but Alden’s subjects are not happy with their new Queen. Annis is a Saxon, a foreigner, the daughter of their greatest enemy and she is not to be trusted. Alden is faced with an impossible choice, should he forsake his wife, and keep his crown? Or, should he stand down as King and let his brother rule in his place? Only time will tell…

Other Books in the Same Series

The Du Lac Chronicles

Book 1 – The Du Lac Chronicles

Book 2 – The Du Lac Devil

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